Author(s):
monnier, henry bonaventure (paris, 07–06–1799 - paris, 03–01–1877 — 3–6–1877), designer-lithographer
delpech, françois seraphin (orléans, 1778 - 1825), printer
other title: yesterday & today (series title)
dating in century: 19th century
type(s) of object(s): graphic arts, print
name(s): print
materials and techniques: lithography, laid paper, watercolor
dimensions - artwork:
height: 23cm
width: 27. 9cm
dimensions - picture:
height: 15. 4cm
width: 15. 2cm
dimensions - mounting:
height: 40cm
width: 30cm
description:
colored print
marks, inscriptions, hallmarks:
wet stamp - t. H. : monogram a m and 2 r next to each other?
title of the work - above the image: jadis
legend - under the image: the toilet
registration concerning the test - under the image on the right: i. Lith de delpech
inscription concerning the author - under the image on the left: henry monnier
iconographic description:
in a room decorated in the style of the ancien régime, a lady is getting ready, sitting in front of her mirror. She places her flies on her powdered face. A servant adjusts her wig. An abbot and a soldier are at his side, while a courtier brings him a letter. Actor, playwright and designer, henry monnier helped illustrate la comédie humaine. His engravings of administrative morals, and especially his play scenes from bureaucratic life, clearly inspired balzac for his novel la femme supérieure, renamed les employés. The same references to the customs of their time often inspired the two artists in parallel on numerous subjects as we can see in the following extract: "i was afraid that she would surprise me with her eyes fixed on the place of her shoulders that i had so ardently kissed. This fear heightened the temptation, and i succumbed to it, i looked at them! my eye tore the fabric, i saw again the lens which marked the birth of the pretty line by which her back was divided, a fly lost in milk, and which since the ball always blazed in the evening in this darkness where the sleep of young people whose imagination is ardent, whose life is chaste seems to flow. I can sketch for you the main features which would have made the countess visible everywhere; but the most correct drawing, the warmest color would not yet express anything. [excerpt from the lily in the valley, by honoré de balzac]
themes / subjects / places represented:
subject of society, morals, hairstyle, wig, screen
institution: maison de balzac
inventory number: bal91. 105. Unknown date
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